Meet Ellie
Meet Ellie Willaert, a vivacious little girl - she’s five years old this year. She enjoys t-ball and playing with her many cousins. She has a little sister and a baby brother on the way. She likes to run and be outside and have fun like any normal little girl.
But on April 29th Ellie joined a very small group of children in the U.S., in the world even. A few weeks before then Ellie began having vision and balance problems. She tilted her head to the side as if she were having trouble seeing. She took baby steps in unfamiliar places. She was reluctant to walk down steps she didn’t know. Her pediatrician recommended an MRI, which was quickly scheduled. On April 29th, Ellie’s results were in: she has a diffusely intrinsic brainstem glioma, a tumor in her brainstem. It is malignant, it is aggressive, and it is inoperable. The prognosis is serious, and the numbers are grim. The survival rate of this type of tumor is very low - between 5 and 10%. The average life expectancy post-diagnosis is between eight and ten months. This disease follows no hereditary or environmental patterns. It strikes like lightning for no reason the oncologists could give us.
Ellie was recommended a treatment program of radiation therapy, five days per week for six weeks. She began that treatment on Tuesday, May 6th.
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AMiracleForEllie.org
Ellie’s family is a family in need. They need prayers, comfort, healing, and assistance, both material and financial. This website was created to work in conjunction with Ellie’s CaringBridge page in order to provide interested parties information on benefit and fundraising efforts underway on behalf of Ellie and her family. While this site is still under construction, we hope to have a calendar of events and assistance for the family, news updates, and fundraising resources up for use soon. Please check back regularly.
